KNOWING GOD – THE GOD OF MIRACLES – Lesson Twenty-six
TEXT: Psalm 78 (Cont’d.) – V.13-16
[We continue to “consider the marvelous works” listed in this psalm, in keeping with I Samuel 12:24 – But be sure to fear the LORD and serve him faithfully with all your heart; consider what great things he has done for you.
Be sure to fear the LORD – Proverbs 19:23 – The fear of the LORD leads to life: Then one rests content, untouched by trouble.]
Psalm 78:13 – He divided the sea and led them through; he made the water stand firm like a wall. See Exodus 13:17-14:31.
Psalm 78:14 – He guided them with the cloud by day and with light from the fire all night. See Numbers 9:15-23. Note: Numbers 14:10-16 – 10But the whole assembly talked about stoning them. Then the glory of the LORD appeared at the Tent of Meeting to all the Israelites. 11The LORD said to Moses, “How long will these people treat me with contempt? How long will they refuse to believe in me, in spite of all the miraculous signs I have performed among them? 12I will strike them down with a plague and destroy them, but I will make you into a nation greater and stronger than they.”
13Moses said to the LORD, “Then the Egyptians will hear about it! By your power you brought these people up from among them. 14And they will tell the inhabitants of this land about it. They have already heard that you, O LORD, are with these people and that you, O LORD, have been seen face to face, that your cloud stays over them, and that you go before them in a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. 15If you put these people to death all at one time, the nations who have heard this report about you will say, 16`The LORD was not able to bring these people into the land he promised them on oath; so he slaughtered them in the desert.’
PURPOSE OF THE CLOUD:
(a) Deuteronomy 1:32-33 – 32In spite of this, you did not trust in the LORD your God, 33who went ahead of you on your journey, in fire by night and in a cloud by day, to search out places for you to camp and to show you the way you should go.
(b) Nehemiah 9:12 – By day you led them with a pillar of cloud, and by night with a pillar of fire to give them light on the way they were to take.
(c) Psalm 99:7 – He spoke to them from the pillar of cloud; they kept his statutes and the decrees he gave them. [Note Exodus 33:9-11 – 9As Moses went into the tent, the pillar of cloud would come down and stay at the entrance, while the LORD spoke with Moses. 10Whenever the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the entrance to the tent, they all stood and worshiped, each at the entrance to his tent. 11The LORD would speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks with his friend. Then Moses would return to the camp, but his young aide Joshua son of Nun did not leave the tent.]
(d) 1 Corinthians 10:1-2 – 1For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers, that our forefathers were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea. 2They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea.
(NLT) 1I don’t want you to forget, dear brothers and sisters, about our ancestors in the wilderness long ago. All of them were guided by a cloud that moved ahead of them, and all of them walked through the sea on dry ground. 2In the cloud and in the sea, all of them were baptized as followers of Moses.
(AMP) FOR I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, that our forefathers were all under and protected by the cloud [in which God’s Presence went before them], and every one of them passed safely through the [Red] Sea, 2And each one of them [allowed himself also] to be baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea [they were thus brought under obligation to the Law, to Moses, and to the covenant, consecrated and set apart to the service of God];
New Testament Parallel: The Spirit and the Word – John 14:15-17, 25-26 – 15“If you love me, you will obey what I command. 16And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever– 17the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. 18I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.
25“All this I have spoken while still with you. 26But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.
John 15:26 – “When the Counselor comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father, he will testify about me.
See John 16:12-15.
Psalm 78:15-16 – He split the rocks in the desert and gave them water as abundant as the seas; 16he brought streams out of a rocky crag and made water flow down like rivers. See: Exodus 17:1-7; Numbers 20:1-12 (V.11 – Then Moses raised his arm and struck the rock twice with his staff. Water gushed out, and the community and their livestock drank.
Application: Thanks to the GOD OF MIRACLES! On the Day of Pentecost, Living Water “gushed out” and has been gushing since! Let us drink!
V.12 – But the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not trust in me enough to honor me as holy in the sight of the Israelites, you will not bring this community into the land I give them.”
Application: We need to note carefully what is said by the GOD OF MIRACLES and obey completely. Note Philippians 2:12 (AMP) – Therefore, my dear ones, as you have always obeyed [my suggestions], so now, not only [with the enthusiasm you would show] in my presence but much more because I am absent, work out (cultivate, carry out to the goal, and fully complete) your own salvation with reverence and awe and trembling (self-distrust, with serious caution, tenderness of conscience, watchfulness against temptation, timidly shrinking from whatever might offend God and discredit the name of Christ).